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SUKKUR, Pakistan — About 150,000 Pakistanis were forced to move to higher ground as floodwaters from a freshly swollen Indus River submerged dozens more towns and villages in the south, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Officials expect the floodwaters will recede nationwide in the next few days as the last river torrents empty into the Arabian Sea. Survivors may find little left when they return home, however: The waters have washed away houses, roads, bridges and crops vital to livelihoods.
Already, 600,000 people are in relief camps set up in Sindh province during the flooding over the past month.
As the latest surge approached, "We evacuated more than 150,000 people from interior parts of Sindh in the past 24 hours," said Jamil Soomro, a spokesman for the provincial government. The floods submerged new areas in Thatta district.
At a relief camp in the Sukkur area, some victims said it was difficult to get the food dropped off by relief trucks.
"I am a widow, and my children are too young to get food because of the chaos and rush," said Parveen Roshan. "How can weak women win a fight with men to get food?"
Nearby, a doctor treated a boy whose back was injured after someone pushed him during a scramble for food at a truck.
The floods have affected about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, straining its civilian government as it also struggles against al-Qaida and Taliban violence. At least 6 million people have been made homeless and 20 million affected overall. The economic cost is expected to run into billions of dollars.
The United Nations has appealed for $460 million in emergency assistance, and the U.S. has promised $150 million. Pakistan said it would even accept $5 million in aid from India, its archrival.


What do you think about this?

I really hated how the men would all scramble to get the food and hurt each other for it
It's like they are more animal than human...

This is really weird. Pakistan might be closer to water, but hearing about floods in the middle east like this is just plain weird because the middle east is usually dry and a desert.

well, both the men fighting for food and the acceptance of money from india show that people will do anything they can to survive if they are desperate enough.

and naturally, its too much to hope that this disaster would affect al-qaida or the taliban. its the civilian government that was already in shamble that bears the brunt of this situation. what a shame

whilst the flooding is a humanitarian tragedy and as such should not be treated lightly, i do think that the call for financial assistance is a bit much. let us not forget that pakistan is a nuclear power and if the authorities did'nt spent money on nuclear weapons proggrammes and instead invested that money on improving the lives of the people, (hospitals and such like). also developing the road structure would have meant help could have got to the worst hit places sooner and aid could have been delivered much quicker, the money could have also been spent on flood defences.
Britain has pledged (i believe) around 40 million, and i for one would rather see taxpayers money spent in britain on the things we need rather than send it abroad to a country that seems to have its priorities wrong.
whilst we and the rest of the world send money and relief aid to people suffering from disaster, there is no incentive for the authorities in some countries to spend their finances more wisely, they can continue spending money on weapons safe in the knowledge if any natural disaster hits they will be helped out.

pakistan is not the middle east.... that's like calling India the middle east... and just because something is in the middle east doesn't mean it's just a desert.

anyway...

"I really hated how the men would all scramble to get the food and hurt each other for it
It's like they are more animal than human..."

It's really hard to judge anyone in a situation like this because you have no basis for what you're saying. Have you ever gone through something like that? Have you gone days without much to eat? People are civilized when life is easy, but toss in some adversary and people's true nature shines through. You would find more people would act that way than not. The strong survive in the world we live in. That's just the way it is.